What Does Psalm 102:21 Mean?
To recount the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;THE KEY
The LORD’s nature is recounted in Zion, and its telling becomes praise in Yerushalayim.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s name is the nature made known through recounting; praise is that knowing given voice among people. The verse places this shared telling in Zion and Yerushalayim, whose name carries shalom, wholeness. Naming and praising are joined in the present voice of a people.
THE ROOT
לְסַפֵּר
lə-sappēr
GROWS FROM
ס־פ־ר
s-p-r
Count, recount, tell.
“recount” in this verse is lə-sappēr. The verb for declaring carries the sense of recounting: the name becomes known as its nature is told. English can make declaration sound like a bare announcement, while this root joins it to an account that unfolds.
ALSO GROWS
sāphar: Count, recount.
סָפַר
This verbal form makes the counting and telling within the root audible in the verse’s act of declaration.
sēfer: Book, scroll.
סֵפֶר
A written account preserves what is recounted, showing how the LORD’s name can be carried forward through telling.
mispar: Number, count.
מִסְפָּר
This branch keeps the root’s sense of reckoning close to its sense of recounting.
תְּהִלָּתוֹ
təhillātô
GROWS FROM
ה־ל־ל
h-l-l
Praise, celebrate.
His praise belongs to the same root as the act of praising: the verse’s declaration of the name opens into voiced praise. The English separates “declare” and “praise,” while the Hebrew pairs the telling of the name with its celebration.
ALSO GROWS
hillēl: Praise, celebrate.
הִלֵּל
This verbal branch makes praise an active voice, matching the public declaration in the verse.
haləlû-yāh: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
This familiar praise-word shows the root becoming an explicit call to voice praise.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
ש־ל־ם
sh-l-m
Be whole, complete.
Yerushalayim carries the sound of shalom, wholeness, with a dual ending. The verse places praise in this name of wholeness, pairing the telling of the LORD’s nature with praise gathered in Jerusalem.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch brings out the wholeness carried in the name Yerushalayim.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form shows the same root’s sense of wholeness beneath the city name.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s nature becomes known as it is recounted and praised in the voices of a people.
I will recount your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.And on that day you will say, Extend your hands to the LORD, call upon his nature, make his doings known among the peoples, and speak aloud that his nature is lifted high.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
I will recount your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.Psalm 22:22 uses the same ספר (s-p-r), “recount, tell,” root for declaring the name. It makes the pairing explicit: the name is recounted among people, and praise rises in the congregation.
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